The National Archives released a number of photos of famed World War II war correspondent Ernie Pyle on Wednesday — exactly 73 years after he was killed near Okinawa, Japan.
Pyle was killed on Ie Island when he was riding in a Jeep with a colonel, the Associated Press reported at the time. While driving near an Army command post, a Japanese machine gun above a ridge opened up on them.
"We all jumped out of the jeep and dived into a roadside ditch," Lieut. Col. Joseph B. Coolidge said. "A little later Pyle and I raised up to look around. Another burst hit the road over our heads and I fell back into the ditch. I looked at Ernie and saw he had been hit."
"He was killed almost instantly," Coolidge said, visibly shaken, the AP reported.
"Pyle, a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist, was well-known for his intimate and personal storytelling that highlighted the experiences of the 'average' soldier," the National Archives wrote. He "was able to tell the stories of enlisted men because he embedded himself in their day-to-day lives; he didn't just observe their work, he lived, traveled, ate, and shared foxholes with them."
Here are the amazing photos:
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Marine Staff Sgt. Elwood P. Smith, right, and a Marine officer, converse with Pyle when he visited this base of Ulithi on March 24, 1945.
PFC. Urban Vachon and Pyle rest by the roadside on the trail at Okinawa on April 8, 1945.
Pyle visits Leathernecks of the 3rd Marine Division, where along with talking to the veterans of the fight on Bougainville and Guam, he observed the famous Marine Corps war dogs for the first time on January 24, 1945.
Shown here talking to “Jeep”, a scout and security patrol Doberman Pinscher, Ernie was impressed with the high standards set by the dogs and their outstanding battle records to date in the Pacific. Jeep is 18 months old and has been overseas only a short time.
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